Chapter 48: They Are So Strong |
In the evening, Chen Chu sat cross-legged on the bed, guiding his true power to continuously circulate along the second stage route of the Dragon Elephant Art. As it circulated, he could feel a distinct suction force, pulling in the transcendent energy hovering outside his body and refining it within.
Now that he no longer had to manually guide it into his body with spiritual force, the efficiency had increased several times compared to before the breakthrough. As they refined the stray energy, these strands of true power grew stronger with each cycle. They would then return to the dantian[1], initiating a new cycle.
This internal energy, however, wasn’t quite like how it was depicted in traditional martial arts novels. While it originated from the dantian and coursed through the meridians, its circulation route was exceedingly intricate, roaming beneath the skin and connective tissues and threading through specific muscles and bones. These complex paths were what allowed the energy to refine and strengthen the cultivator’s physique, to make them increasingly more robust.
The Dragon Elephant Art, which focused on both primary strength and defense, had an even greater effect on this refinement. After cultivation, muscles exhibited greater explosive power, and the skin became more resilient.
It was nearly an hour later when Chen Chu finally opened his eyes.
Phew!
Chen Chu exhaled deeply, carefully sensing the changes brought about by his cultivation, and then starting to ponder slightly. "This progress seems a bit slow."
The primary focus of the First Heavenly Realm was to refine physique and cultivate true power. Because of this, the upper physical limit of the Realm was approximately five times that of an ordinary person, with arm strength reaching three hundred kilograms.
After breaking through to the Second Heavenly Realm, the focus would shift to strengthening the cultivated true power until it filled the dantian. Since this had a more limited effect on one’s physique, the upper limit of the Second Realm was only around eight hundred kilograms of arm strength.
In addition, it was through true power that cultivators were able to perform terrifying feats, even harnessing the power of heaven and earth. As a result, many cultivators would become less focused on refining their physique over time, instead prioritizing the cultivation of true power. For high-level cultivators, especially the ones at the pinnacle of the Ninth Heavenly Realm, an increase in strength of a few hundred or even a few thousand kilograms was practically negligible.
It was usually only those who had become stuck in a realm for years or even decades that shifted their focus back onto refining their physique. Doing such, however, required expending true power, which would have a negative impact on their overall progress.
As he recalled Pang Long’s teachings, Chen Chu estimated that filling his dantian with true power would likely take at least half a year under normal circumstances.
"Half a year." With that thought, he sighed. After his avatar’s two consecutive evolutions, and the resulting improvement of his basic physique, Chen Chu's talent was now on the level of the geniuses who had used resources to achieve breakthroughs within a week.
But if it will still take him half a year to break through to the Third Heavenly Realm, how long will it take for those who established their foundation after half a month or a month?
Chen Chu was once again keenly aware of the overwhelming difficulty of the cultivation path. It would take at least half a year to break through from the Second to the Third Heavenly Realm. What about the breakthrough from the Third to the Fourth?
With such a drastic increase in difficulty for each Heavenly Realm, for those with lower aptitude, achieving a breakthrough to the Third Realm through normal cultivation would take at least two years...
With this in mind, Chen Chu couldn't help but feel grateful that he could use attribute points to directly enhance his cultivation.
The following day, at noon, after a morning of practicing saber arts, Chen Chu encountered Lin Xue and Xia Youhui when they all arrived at the cafeteria.
"Ah Chu, over here, over here!" Xia Youhui waved at him from their spot in line.
As Chen Chu approached them, Xia Youhui couldn't wait and said, "Ah Chu, have you heard?"
"You haven't said anything yet, how am I supposed to have heard anything?" Chen Chu couldn't help but tease.
"Heh... I thought you already knew." Xia Youhui grinned and then started the gossip. "This morning, I heard that Li Hao, who's second rank, and Hong Tianyi, who's third, have both broken through to the Second Heavenly Realm.
"They say Li Hao built his foundation in just three days and was already at the limit of the First Heavenly Realm. After securing the second position, he used cultivation resources to directly break through this time."
Chen Chu nodded. "I know him."
He had a deep impression of the formidable classmate who wielded an iron pillar and stood two meters tall.
During their conversation, they grabbed their meals and found an unoccupied table to sit at. Once seated, Chen Chu looked at the purple-haired girl across from him and curiously asked, "Lin Xue, how much longer do you think it will take for you to break through?"
As the tenth ranked in the competition, Lin Xue was currently quite popular among the freshmen. There was no denying that she not only looked beautiful, but also possessed considerable strength.
She thought for a moment and said, "Yesterday, I used some resources to strengthen my physique to the limit of the First Heavenly Realm. Next is nurturing and condensing my true power. I think it will take a few more days."
"Impressive! You're about to break through." While praising Lin Xue, Chen Chu's tone was genuinely sincere, as if he had completely forgotten that he himself had broken through to the Second Heavenly Realm just yesterday.
Lin Xue shook her head. "I just used resources to get an early breakthrough, nothing to be proud of."
Originally, after building her foundation, Lin Xue had expected to break through in a little over a month. She was only earlier by a week, so it didn't feel like a significant difference.
The following week swiftly passed, bringing several breakthroughs to the Second Heavenly Realm among the top fifty freshmen in addition to Lin Xue’s.At the same time, some small pieces of information about Chen Chu began to circulate through the grapevine.
There were talks suggesting that Chen Chu's initial breakthrough into the top fifty was due to his exceptionally high compatibility with the Dragon Elephant Art, granting him an explosive power surpassing the limits of the First Heavenly Realm.
Even so, he had only managed to secure the forty-ninth position. Once the geniuses who cultivated high-level arts broke through to the Second Heavenly Realm, his slight advantage would be overshadowed.
Considering the slower cultivation speed of low-level arts, even if he exchanged for resources to accelerate his cultivation, it would still take at least another month for him to break through to the Second Heavenly Realm. By then, even high-level practitioners who didn't make it into the rankings would have already broken through before him.
Any one of those individuals would easily be able to suppress Chen Chu. The ranking of forty-ninth of the year would no longer be an honor for him, but a mockery of empty fame.
"How about it? What do you think after hearing all this?"
On Thursday afternoon, in the reading room on the thirty-third floor, Luo Fei finished recounting all of the comments she had seen on the official website.
Chen Chu thought for a moment, then nodded. "I don't have much to say. What they're saying is true; those people do indeed have much more talent in cultivation than I do."
Watching Chen Chu's calm demeanor, Luo Fei blinked her beautiful eyes and asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid that someone will challenge you after breaking through to the Second Heavenly Realm?"
According to the school rules, the rankings of new students wouldn't change before the second year. However, if someone managed to defeat Chen Chu, it would surely boost their popularity.
"No, I’m not."
"Why?" Luo Fei wondered.
Chen Chu smiled and said, "Those ranked ahead of me won't bother, and those who didn't make it to the rankings would only pose a danger if they cultivate high-level arts.
"But these people only get 5 contribution points per month, even less than my current amount. They also don't have a twenty percent discount, so they can't exchange for many resources. So when they break through, I'll be close to a breakthrough as well. It's hard to say who will win or lose when we’re in the same realm."
Chen Chu hadn’t told anyone about his breakthrough. After all, the talent he displayed earlier was only average, and even with the excuse of a high compatibility with true martial arts, it would be too conspicuous. He wasn’t trying to deceive others; it was just that revealing it now would bring too much attention and prevent him from being able to lay low. There wasn’t any need to boast about it everywhere.
But if someone did provoke him, he would strike back with a resounding slap.
Watching Chen Chu, who remained calm and unaffected by the outside world, Luo Fei pursed her lips and smiled.
The two of them chatted for a while longer and then immersed themselves in the atmosphere of reading. Of course, while Chen Chu appeared to be reading, most of his attention was focused on the armored beast.
The ferocious beast, already grown to a length of 1.3 meters, slowly entered the river.
It had been over a week since breaking through the Second Heavenly Realm, and the armored beast hunted for food everyday. As it continued to grow and become increasingly more powerful and ferocious, Chen Chu had noticed that the mutated large fish in this stretch of the river were becoming scarce. Often, he had to swim several miles before encountering one.
With this situation, merely searching for prey each day would waste a considerable amount of time.
In the riverbed, the armored beast tore at some fish meat with its mouth. There was a thoughtful look in its eyes. "It seems that when the avatar evolves again, I'll have to go out to sea to find food."
1. In traditional Chinese medicine, the dantian are focal points in the body that act as “centers” for the flow and transmutation of qi ☜